Supplementary dashboard.



PATENTED' MAY 30, 1905 R. H. VANATTA." SUPPLEMENTARY DASHBOARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1904;.

UNITED STATES.

Patented. May 30, 1905.

JATENT OFFICE. v

-RAY HULL VANATTA, OF MOUNT GILEAD, OHIO.

SUPPLEMENTARY DASHBOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,383, dated May 30, 1905. Application filed ve 28, 1904:. Serial No. 234,609.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAY HULL VANATTA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Gilead, in the county of Morrow and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Supple.- mentary Dashboard, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in vehicle appliances, and has for its object to produce a simply-constructed and easily-applied supplementary dashboard for attachment to the ordinary vehicle-dash for protecting the occupants of the vehicle from the mud or water thrown rearwardly by the feet of the horse.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be readily reversed in position upon the vehicledash to form an effectual protection to the occupants of the vehicle from rain or snow.

With these and other objects in view, which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists of certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of the embodiment of the invention capable of carrying thesame into practical operation, it being understood thatthe inven tion is not necessarily limited thereto, as various changes in the shape, proportions, and general assemblage of the parts may be resorted to Without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

In the drawings thus employed, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of ,a vehiclebody and the dashboard viewed from the front with the improved supplemental dashboard applied. Fig. 2 is a similar view from the rear. Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section of the supplemental dashboard removed.

The improved device may be applied to any of the various forms of vehicle-dashboards in common use and for the purpose of illustra-' tion is shown arranged upon a conventional structure of this character and attached in the usual manner to the vehicle-body,-(repre'- sented at 11.)

The improved device consists of a rectangular frame (represented as a whole at 12) and formed of metal bars welded at their junctures in the same manner as the frames of dash with leather or other suitable material corre-.

sponding to the material covering the dashboard 10, as indicated at 14, the covered portion curving laterally, as shown. Connecting the end members of the frame 12 about midway of the uncovered portion, or between the brace member 13 and the bottom member 15 of the'frame 12, is a bar 16, preferably lighter than the other bars and possessing a certain degree of resiliency. The covered portion of the frame 12 is also provided with spaced transverse brace-bars indicated at 17 18 and attached by their lower ends to the brace bar 13 and extended below the same in the form of diverging clips 19 20 for resting over the top member of the dashboard 10. By this arrangement the supplemental dashboard can be readily positioned upon the ordinary dashboard 10 by simply passing the lower member 15 of the frame 12 upon one side and the resilient member 16 upon the other side of the dashboard 10, with the clips 19 2O resting upon its upper rail, as in Figs. 1 and 2. The clips will limit the downward movement and the resiliency of the bar 16 will bind the supplemental dash in position with sufiicient force to prevent accidental displacement or rattling loose under the strains to which it willbe subjected when in use, while at the same time readily yieldable to-force exerted to remove it when not required.

The supplemental dashboard may be placed in either position required, with the curved portion extending forwardly, or toward the horse, to serve as an effective guard to protect the occupants of the vehicle from the mud or water thrown from the horses hoofs, or reversed in position, with the curved portion turned rearwardly, to protect the occupants from rain or snow, as will be obvious. When not required, the device may be readily stored beneath the seat of the vehicle.

The lower member 15 of the supplemental dashboard will be curved laterally, as at 21, to fit around the whip-socket 22, as represented in Fig. 2, and may be supplied with ornamentalvrails or rein-guides of the ordinary construction or otherwise ornamented, as required.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A supplemental detachable dashboard for vehicles having a dashboard-engaging member consisting of a frame for contact with the dashboard provided with an intermediate longitudinal transversely-yielding brace for contact with the opposite side of the dashboard from said frame.

2. A supplemental detachable dashboard for vehicles comprising a rectangular frame divided by a longitudinal brace into two portions, one portion covered and the other portion provided with a longitudinally-disposcd resilient brace intermediately of the same.

3. A supplementaldetachable dashboard for vehicles comprising a rectangular frame divided by a longitudinal brace into two portions, one portion covered and the other portion provided with a longitudinally-disposed resilient brace intermediately of the same, and with diverging clips depending from said dividing brace member.

4. Asupplementaldetachable dashboard for 1 vehicles comprising a rectangular frame divided by a longitudinal brace into two portions, one portion covered and provided with spaced intermediate transverse bracebars conuected to said longitudinal brace and extended 

